BY ALLEN HOWARD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Robert Johnson sits on his porch at Brooks and Dana avenues in Evanston, watching dirt being moved from across the street on the site where the BASF Co. paint building once stood.
He notices a funny, rotten odor when the wind changes suddenly. "I don't know what it is, but whenever they are moving dirt out, I get that smell," Mr. Johnson said.
Mr. Johnson and other Evanston residents harbor fears about the site, since the BASF building exploded July 19, 1990, triggering a five-alarm fire. One person was killed, 72 injured and 17,000 homes and businesses were damaged in a 3-mile radius.
The odor comes from a natural bio-organism process created to kill traces of toluene, xylene, benzene and ethyl benzene on the site, said Michael Gunn, employee safety manager for the city's Office of Environmental Management. The chemicals -- all of which are carcinogens -- were used in BASF's manufacturing.
But the bio-organic process isn't working, and this week dirt where the chemicals are embedded had to be dug up and hauled to the Petro Environmental facility in Washington Court House, Mr. Gunn said.
"This area is not really designed to make the process work," Mr. Gunn said. "The dirt has to be moved to another facility better equipped for this process."
Dirt also was removed two years ago and taken to Petro.
Chris Budich, director of hazard waste management for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, said workers were taking out a sewer line when they discovered the traces of chemicals last week. He said BASF officials are following procedures in cleaning up the site.
"They are not under any orders. This is just the normal procedure that must be followed when there is an explosion and traces of chemicals are found. We are satisfied with the process," Mr. Budich said. But Dora Dority, who lives three blocks from the site, is not satisfied. She accuses the city of not taking precautions to protect the health and welfare of the community.
"How long is it going to take to clean up this area?" Ms. Dority said. ". . . They tell us it is not dangerous, yet we see them digging and hauling out dirt through the community. How do we know whether or not the stuff is contaminating the air?"
Ms. Dority wants an independent analysis of soil and air surrounding the area. She also is concerned that recent heavy rainfalls have saturated the site.
Mr. Gunn said they found traces of methylene chloride in the ground water, but that it is contained within the former plant area.
